Bayou La Batre, Ala. residents questioning who gets what -- and why

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Chris LaForce talks with other fisherman during a July 5 protest meeting at the city docks in Bayou La Batre, Ala. The city has received $8.5 million in BP money that was passed along through the state -- enough for every resident to get a check for $3,675.

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. — The Gulf oil spill has replaced most of the shrimp, oysters and crabs flowing into this sleepy coastal hamlet with cash — gobs of it. But if this is a boomtown, it's a bitter one.

Bayou La Batre, population 2,313, has received $8.5 million in BP grant money, more than any other place on the Gulf Coast, but boat operators idled by the spill complain that some of the cash intended to keep them working has gone instead to recreational fishermen and the mayor's brother.

The town that locals call "The Bayou" is in an uproar headed into a town-hall meeting Saturday by the administrator of a separate $20 billion BP claims fund. At the docks, hundreds have gathered for meetings and protests about how the grant money is being spent.

Under their breath, some people even worry about an outbreak of violence. A police car sat for days guarding a marine company that employs the brother of Mayor Stan Wright.

Fishermen in this Alabama shrimping capital of "Forrest Gump" fame have turned largely to work cleaning up the oil spill. A crew of two in a small boat can bring in $1,600 for a day's work, better in many cases than they used to make fishing, but they do the work without knowing when the cleanup money will dry up and whether their industry will be back when it does.

The pay comes from the company responsible for the spill, BP PLC, which has distributed more than $245 million so far in grants to Gulf Coast states for cleanup and tourism. Alabama, Florida and Mississippi have passed on much of that money to municipalities, while state agencies are handling the work in Louisiana.

The Bayou's share has been far heftier even than that received by much larger Gulf Coast cities and counties because its cleanup work extends well beyond the town line, covering the entire southern coast of Mobile County, said Jeff Emerson, a spokesman for Gov. Bob Riley.

The money, which amounts to about $3,675 for every Bayou La Batre resident, has helped keep the town buzzing. Scores of boats cruise in and out of the inlet most days, and traffic is busy along the main drag, Wintzell Avenue.

But with so much cash flooding a blue-collar town, people focused sharply on who was getting what. Quickly, Bayou La Batre was buzzing over claims that Mayor Wright and cronies were setting up their family and friends with BP money.

Much of the controversy centered on Wright's brother Gordy, who was working for a marine company that received a city contract for BP-funded work. The mayor said nothing was wrong with the arrangement, but another company has since been brought in under a new arrangement with BP.

Other sore points are that pleasure fishermen were sharing in a pot meant for commercial anglers whose jobs were lost, and that some of the city work has gone to people from out of state. Recreational boaters, including some from out of town, were indeed getting BP money in Bayou La Batre and elsewhere, but officials say they're being cut out of the mix across the Gulf, where BP has spent $4 billion cleaning up and containing oil.

Stan Wright, who has been mayor for about a decade and is known for his ubiquitous green John Deere cap, says he's done nothing wrong. He responded to some criticism of the city's boat program by suggesting that gripes were coming from captains and mates who couldn't pass required drug-screening tests. He also accused captains of stealing fuel from a larger program run by BP.

Captains and crewmen responded by rallying against the city. Hundreds signed a petition against Wright's and the city's involvement in the coastal protection program, and meetings at the state docks turned into angry rallies largely focused on how BP money was being spent.

Dominick Ficarino, who owns a seafood processing plant in Bayou La Batre, said officials made mistakes as they quickly distributed BP money in the city, which was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and was the hometown of Forrest Gump's best friend, Bubba, in the 1994 movie. He said mistrust and jealousy spread as fast as the money in a town where the median family income is only $27,580 annually — roughly the same as running a boat for BP for 17 days.

"BP tried to move in here very quickly, and what they tried to do got out of hand," he said.

BP has tried to quiet the uproar and began funding the cleanup work differently earlier this month.

City leaders now recommend which boats are hired for protection work, but only as part of a group that includes fishing organizations. BP, not the city, is now in charge and issuing checks, said Matt Kissinger, a BP executive who helps oversee the "vessel of opportunity" cleanup programs.

With so much oil in the Gulf, officials say it could be months or even years before the last tar balls come ashore. Many just hope the town returns to the days when life was about fishing and the biggest worry was hurricane season.

Video: Watching and worrying on the bayou

Transcript of: Watching and worrying on the bayou

HOLT:with all this, that means tonight the -- along the
Louisiana
bayou, there's now a new unknown to deal with, and that is causing some
high anxiety
for people already dealing with their share of disaster.
Michelle Kosinski
is in
Dulac
,
Louisiana
, for us tonight.
Michelle
:

MICHELLE KOSINSKI reporting:Hi there,
Lester
. People's lives here are so close to that water, they know there's not always a lot they can do to prepare for a storm. You basically either ride it out or get out. Some even told us that a hurricane headed for them wouldn't normally faze them, it's just they've never had a storm mixed with oil.
In New Orleans
this morning, they closed the floodgates and loaded up sandbags in
Plaquemines Parish
. A day to clean up, tie down, move out.

Unidentified Man #1:The water got this high.

KOSINSKI:On property still scarred from
Katrina
and where those memories live so close to the surface.
Shrimper Lynette Gonzalez
, known as "Net"...

KOSINSKI:...is trying to protect what's left of her livelihood. Storms they know, but this is an ugly mix.

Ms. GONZALEZ:I'm afraid of the oil, you know, and the water coming up here, and, I mean, what's going to happen then?

KOSINSKI:Working alongside it, they've been watching that water rise for weeks, already so high.

Unidentified Man #2:Immediately, I just got to get out of harm's way. The water's coming.

KOSINSKI:They also know every day spent crouching from a
tropical storm
will be a day not spent cleaning up oil, one day further from the end.

Unidentified Man #3:We dodged a bullet now for three months. I don't think we're going to dodge this bullet. This bullet, it's -- oil's coming n.

KOSINSKI:The
Kantis
lost everything in
Katrina
, just bought this
fishing boat
they can't wait to use for fishing and not oil boom. Now trying to get it hurricane ready in a hurry.

Unidentified Woman:The last thing we want to do is worry about four boats that we have out scattered throughout
Louisiana
.

KOSINSKI:Where life is tied to that water, so is anxiety. And lately, it only seems to be rising. The goal on these bayous is simply to work through it. Many are so exhausted from three months of worry, they feel this is the least of it. And at any rate,